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When you tell people that you have had 15 surgeries from a brain tumour, a punctured intestine, an obstructed bowel, a cyst in my brain and a condition called hydrocephalus, people respond in a number of ways: shock, sadness, sympathy, empathy but mostly – kindness.

When I take off my top, it’s often the opposite.

First there is shock, because despite me sharing my story, most people do not equate surgeries with surgery scars.

Despite warning them about my medical trauma, they don’t expect the scars that come with it.

Then, there is a whole range of reactions: confusion, pity and even sometimes disgust.

Last summer, I wore a bikini for the first time and shared my story, posting a blog on Instagram titled ‘People with Scars Can’t Wear Bikinis’.

(Picture: Red Flag Magazine)

It was the start of my campaign Scarred Not Scared and it quickly went viral worldwide appearing in the Today Show.com, People.com, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Mail, the Mirror, MTV, The Independent, Women’s Day and many more articles including media that was written in Belgium, Italy, Israel, Portugal and The Netherlands.

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As well as worldwide media, I received an enormous amount of support.

I received messages from people struggling with their body image, saying that my post gave them the courage to wear a bikini for the first time and then came the messages from the people with scars.

(Picture: Red Flag Magazine)

These were the most heartwarming. Stories from people all over the world, telling me about accidents they had been in, surgeries they had been through, all of them telling me about the worst time in their lives.

(Picture: Red Flag Magazine)

The reason why I struggled so much with my scars is because no one was talking about them and in launching Scarred Not Scared, my mission was to get people talking because I believe suffering only exists in silence.

This time though, I wanted to include all kinds of scars. Each scar tells a story and these stories are beautiful and are ones of resilience and strength.

In telling these stories, we are standing strong, making it known that all bodies are beautiful.